The Dark Redemption
by Code name Anrui Yuy
Summary: What if when Revan fell to the darkside for the second time, she offered Carth the chance to follow her? Oneshot submission to Mandalore's dueling circle.


**The Dark Redemption.**

Revan grinned triumphantly as Malak was slammed against the wall from yet another force wave. He slid down the wall with a groan, his body resembling a thrashed rag doll. A smirk crossed Revan's utterly calm face as Malak began to hack and gag, clawing at the invisible hand that was crushing his windpipe. She walked over to his slumped body with an easy feminine grace and gripped the large metal slab that served as Malak's lower jaw and hoisted him above her head so his weary yellow eyes were forced to meet hers steel blue ones.

"You're pathetic," she spat at him, "I come in here after having hacked my way through your little play-pen and you can't even land a hit on me. If anything you've grown weaker, _Lord Malak_." With that she dropped him like unceremoniously to the floor and placed a foot on his chest before whipping out her double-bladed light-saber. She raised the vermillion blade above her head, poised and ready to plunge it into his chest.

"Re…Revan," Malak coughed weakly, "Do you… do you remember why, why we started this damn war?"

Revan narrowed her eyes, trying to understand what Malak could be up to, "It's not going to change whether or not you die here in a moment."

Malak screwed his eyes shut through his painful coughs, "I know, it was always going to be you, Revan. Do you remember what we found beyond known space? Why you came back with a vow to re-forge the Republic?"

Revan stared intently at Malak, her eyes piercing his as she searched her memory, reaching back through the fog and haze induced by the jedi council. Vague, dark shadows moved eerily in her mind's eye, but still too unclear to comprehend. "Why are you speaking of this?" She demanded, her voice tense and uneasy.

"We were friends once Revan… I… I loved you once," his eyes slid shut, "I just want you to remember what you were fighting for."

Revan stared uneasily down at her former apprentice, all of her instincts shouted to her to carve a crater in his chest and be done with it, but the nagging memory in her brain stopped her. She shifted some of her weight off the foot that was planted firmly on Malak's chest.

"Go on…"

Malak began to cough again, and Revan could feel his life force slipping with every second.

"Xalagos," he managed to whisper, "remember…Xalagos…"

Revan stood dumbstruck as Malak's final grip on life faded away, his body going limp under her foot. Before her inner eye thousands of faces, sights, sounds and feelings passed, springing out of the recesses of her damaged mind. They went too fast for her to identify anything, but she knew that these were her memories. They rolled over her in continuous, nauseating waves that made her body go cold, and through the constant rush of fragments, one name echoed over and over again…_Xalagos…Xalagos…_

Revan dropped her lightsaber, falling to her knees as she stared blankly at Malak's cooling body.

"Force…" Revan's voice came out in a ragged whisper, the horrors that had hardened her for her campaign against the Republic came flooding back. The horrors that had taken her months of nightmares and meditation to overcome all rolled over her in one sickening wave. Her ears rang with the awful sounds that had been forced from her soldiers. The reddened eyes of those who had to be sacrificed so the rest could escape bore into her brain…her skin tingling under the memory of the slimy-

"Lord Revan!"

Revan was ripped from her memories by the sound of another female voice. She looked up to see Bastilla beaming down at her like a proud daughter.

"You did it! You defeated Malak! You are the Dark Lord of the Sith once again!"

"_The Dark Lord of the Sith…", _Revan looked down at herself. She had been known by that title for years now. _Fools…_she thought as she stared down again at Malak "_If they think we are the epitome of evil, then the Republic is far from ready for what will come." _

"My lord?"

Bastilla's voice once again interrupted Revan's thoughts, Bastilla was now offering a hand to Revan, and she was struck by how much she looked like Malak in that moment.

"Are you injured?"

Revan shook her head but clasped the offered hand and let herself be pulled up. She knew she was still shaken from her memories and did not feel like stumbling and falling in her first moments of regained power.

"What is the status of the space battle?"

This brought a cheeky smirk to Bastilla's face, "Well my lord, the Republic ships are being utterly destroyed by our forces but…" Bastilla hesitated a moment before continuing, "one snub fighter has managed to dock."

Revan mentally reached out over the Star Forge, flying past the dying dark jedi, beyond the hollow echoes of the droids and the constant pounding of the forge itself working until she came upon a presence that almost made her heart stop, "Carth…"

"My lord-"

Bastilla's words fell on deaf ears as Revan had already bolted in the direction of the hanger. Bastilla followed quickly after, shouting questions at Revan but the dark lord paid no mind. Bastilla sensed panic rolling off her master, which confused her. Why should she be so worried about the fact that Carth was on the Star Forge? It wasn't as if he could do anything.

Revan felt her heart pounding in her chest, despite her passage to the darkside, her heart still throbbed at the thought of the Telosian pilot. Despite that fact that she knew Carth would hate her now, she knew she had to see him one last time.

She nearly tripped over bodies of Malak's dark jedi as she ran down the final gangway to the hanger. She could feel his aura teaming with different emotions, fear, despair, hatred and…love… Revan stood stalk still as simultaneously she felt that small tendril of light in his aura and saw him standing at the bottom of the gangway. He looked as if he had aged ten years in the past few hours, sorrow accenting the lines of his face.

"So you killed Darth Malak, somehow, I always knew you would."

The dejection in his voice brought a pang of pain to Revan's chest, but instead of letting it show, she opted for smiling softly at him, "Somehow I'm not surprised you found your way here."

"The Republic fleet picked me up from the planet, I told them of your betrayal, but I also told them that I couldn't abandon you. I had to come, I said I'd find a way to save you from yourself and I will."

Revan closed her eyes, shaking her head at his naivety, his beautifully innocent hope, her voice was softer this time, sounding equally dejected. "And how exactly do you propose to do that?"

A soft glint of hope shone in Carth's eyes as he stepped towards her, "All you have to do is listen to me."

Behind Revan, Bastilla gave an impatient snort, "I should've known you would've found a way to meddle in this one last time."

Carth looked up sharply at Bastilla, his eyes going cold at the sight of her, his voice had the bite of Hothian storms, "Don't interfere Bastilla, this is between me and Revan."

Bastilla laughed a little and smiled mockingly down at Carth, "You are a fool. Revan has already made her choice, and there is no turning back. Don't listen to him master! Let me strike him down, seize your victory!"

Revan gave Bastilla a severe glance, then tossed her head meaningfully in the direction of the door. Bastilla pursed her lips but bowed before quickly leaving the hanger. Revan then turned back to Carth, her body seemingly growing heavier as she spoke, "I'm sorry Carth, it's too late. We both know that."

Carth took another step closer, holding a hand up as if he intended to touch her shoulder, but thought better about it, "I love you, even now, even after… after… after all you've done." Carth's eyes shone with an intensity that she had never seen from him before, his voice so rough with emotion that it caused a physical ache in her chest.

"I love you like I haven't loved anyone or anything since my wife died. I didn't even think that was possible. You may not love me, you may not love anything anymore now that you've gone over to the darkside. But I believe there is still some part of you I can reach. There's a part of you that believes in hope, and in mercy, and love, and that part knows that it'll soon be gone forever."

At that moment Revan knew that she did love Carth, as much as he loved her, but she also loved the Republic, and she knew that her duty to the Republic was prevail over her own passion. She smiled to herself at the bitter irony, as a Sith she would loose her one chance at redemption for her evil deeds with the logic of the jedi teachings. "_The love of the many must always outweigh the passion for the few… But the jedi never did try to be clever and have both…"_ Revan leaned toward Carth and removed her gloves before offering a hand to him, "It's not too late for you to join me Carth."

Carth stepped back sharply as if instead he was being offered a red-hot poker, his eyes were weary and resigned again.

"No, it's too late for that and it's too late for you to turn back. But you can end this here; there is time for one final act of redemption. Kill Bastilla, without her battle meditation, the Republic fleet can destroy the Star Forge and rid the galaxy of this evil."

"_Rid the galaxy of this evil…", _Revan suddenly saw a door open in her mind. Steeling her resolve, she held Carth's eyes with her own.

"Carth, whether or not you'd believe it, there is a very good reason I started this war with the Republic. It's not to spread the doctrine of the Sith, for glory, for plunder or even to test the limit of my powers Carth," she stepped closer to him the comfort of his aura instilling her with the confidence to continue, "I sold my place in the jedi order, the love and respect of the only family I had ever known to save the Republic. As a jedi, as a Sith lord, as a two-credit smuggler and even now I love the Republic."

"Then why are you ripping it to shreds!? How does what happened on Telos show your love for the Republic!?"

"Carth, honestly ask yourself, how many planets have suffered the same fate as Telos under my command? How many?"

Carth looked confused at her for a moment, searching her eyes for the source of this strange tangent.

"Taris." He whispered. Revan just shook her heard.

"Under MY command Carth. And was a planet ever not offered a chance for peaceful surrender? Was there ever NOT a period where civilians could leave the planet before bombardment?" She didn't wait for the answer to her questions before continuing, "In those two years when I took the fleet beyond known space, we… we found something."

"Found something? You mean beside the Star Forge?"

Revan gave an embittered laugh, "Yes, something far beyond the magnitude of the Star Forge. Carth, the Mandalorian war showed me something. That the Republic is collapsing in on itself, it's grown so weak we couldn't handle the fighting force of one planet. And then we saw…" Revan stopped for a moment, her eyes glazing over as the newly found memories started to crawl back into her brain.

"You saw what?"

Revan drew in a shuddering breath before continuing, "They call me the Dark Lord of the Sith because I am the closest thing this galaxy knows to the dark doctrines. But I am nothing in comparison to the true Sith."

This statement did nothing to alleviate the confusion of Carth's face, so Revan continued.

"The true Sith were originally a species which fed of the dark side of the force, they interbred with other force-sensitive beings and eventually the elemental Sith died out. In Republic space that is," Revan closed her eyes and let out a shaky breath, fighting back the images that were surfacing on the back of her eyelids, "that's what we found. And the Republic isn't ready for them, that's what this is about Carth. I'm trying to unite and enlarge the Republic Carth, not destroy it!"

"But you're conquering and destroying! Surely through the Senate-"

"Come off it Carth, you know it would take the senate 100 years to do what I've done in 5. Carth, I know what I'm doing is evil, I'm not going to deny it but," she reached up and placed her bare hand on his cheek, "I'm not evil Carth. Very few things are so black and white in this universe, sometimes to accomplish the greater good…," Revan paused, taking a deep breath in order to continue, "evil is necessary…I love you Carth, and you know I do…stay by my side and help me. With your knowledge of the Republic you can make this war go so much faster so we can start focusing on rebuilding." Revan winced when she saw a sting of fear in his eyes, and she knew its source. "Oh Carth, you'd be nothing like Saul. I'd never ask you to do such a thing, and you wouldn't turn into something like him, Malak let him become that. You know I'm not Malak." She placed her other hand on his other cheek, fighting the urge to smile at the indecision in his eyes. Carth bowed his head and closed his eyes so he didn't have to look at her, his voice a sorrowful whisper.

"What are you asking me to do Revan?"

She set her forehead against him, speaking in a soft, loving tone, "Only that you love me, stay by my side and recognize what I'm trying to do. Give me a future with you Carth, like you told me you wanted to."

Carth gave a weak snort like chuckle, "This isn't quite what I had in mind beautiful…"

Revan chuckled back, stroking his cheek bone with her thumb, "I know, but, you know why I have to do this," she applied a light pressure to his face and titled it up so once again she could look into his eyes, which now had tears in them. "Please flyboy, stay with me, help me save the Republic…" She quieted now, she knew she had said all that she could, it was up to Carth now. His eyes shone with sorrow and love, he knew what a future with her meant, and he had an idea of what one without her would feel like. His aura was too mixed for Revan to read, she felt her chest tighten with anticipation as he gazed at her. Sorrow flooded his aura, he placed his hands on her wrists and Revan braced herself for his words of good-bye, tears leaked out of his now closed eyes.

"I made a promise to you, to follow you and protect you. I made a promise to myself to love you," his voice trembled with emotion as he opened his eyes again, "and I will stand by it, as I will stand by you, Revan."

He then leaned down and kissed her gently, _our first kiss…_ Revan idly realized. She flooded them both with the warmth of her love, attempting to drown out his sorrow. She could feel the depth of his sorrow; he was turning his back on everyone and everything of his former life and in a sense becoming the very thing he had despised for so many years, just so he could stay with her. The acknowledgement of that sacrifice made Revan's heart ache. She then pulled away and quietly set her head against his chest, closing her eyes she reached out to Bastilla through the force..

"_Call off our fighters, allow Dodoona to escape. They no longer have a force that can challenge the Star Forge"._

She felt the other woman's confusion through the force, Revan then forced a sharp edge along with her thoughts_. "Just do it Bastilla. Nothing more can be accomplished from this battle. Let them keep their lives"._

She received acknowledgement from the younger woman, then gave a heavy sigh, turning her attention back to the man before her.

"Thank-you Carth…" She whispered into his armor. Carth just wrapped his arms around her, holding her tightly against him as he began to sob into her shoulder. Revan simply wrapped her arms around his neck, stroking his hair softly.

Within two weeks of that fate-laden day, Revan moved in on the mid-rim worlds, capturing Corellia with the combined knowledge of Carth and Bastilla.

Revan had it rumored that Carth had died dueling the Dark Lord, allowing him to be mourned as a fallen hero of the Republic, unknown to either of them, Dustil attended the service on Telos. Telos was then re-conquered in a bloodless siege the following month and sith forces resumed the ithorian's restoration of the planet.

One by one the mid-rim worlds fell under Revan's rule, each being systematically rid of its elected government and replaced with a sith governor who immediately saw to transforming the planet's resources to military production.

After another year the sith forces moved in to the core worlds. The battles became more drawn out and desperate on the part of the Republic, but it was only another two years before Revan received the official surrender from Coruscant, and all of the Republic. Much to everyone's surprise Revan did not disband the galactic senate upon arrival. While she did dismiss many senators, many were also asked to stay and act as delegates to Revan on behalf on their planets. Few did.

When the jedi exile Anarui Adeo returned to Republic space two years later however, she could not believe her eyes at what she saw.

- Fin.


End file.
